


The Making of Mischief

by iamthececimonster



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 05:09:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5321660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamthececimonster/pseuds/iamthececimonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The idea behind the map. Remus is definitely a class A trouble maker, there is some wolfstar, if you squint really hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Making of Mischief

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction, so please be gentle! It was actually written as a birthday gift for my dear friend Kelly, if you're interested, check their Tumblr: priinsass

Remus and Peter sat on the dormitory floor, the former leaning precariously against his four poster reading and trying not to disturb the healing gash on his left side, and the latter hunched over his potions essay and an oft-used copy of 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi, trying to glean it for more information on the properties of moonstone and its uses.  
“Ugh!” Peter groaned, pushing the text book away and running a hand down his round, red face. He was rather good at potion MAKING, but the theoretical concepts were far beyond him. He claimed the reason for this was that potion making was like cooking, which he was really quite good at. Theory was the kind of thing only Remus understood.  
“Potions essay?” Remus queried, sympathetically.  
“I’ve already discussed a solid dozen potions that use moonstone, but I could not tell you, for the life of me, why they work! And this book is USELESS!” Peter slammed the offending text shut in a fashion that would make Madame Pince, the vicious and stern librarian, shout in anger, and made Remus Lupin flinch in sympathy for the poor book’s spine.  
“Well…” Remus was no great shakes at potions, either, and neither James nor Sirius had the patience for it. “You could ask Evans?” he proposed tentatively.  
“Huh,” scoffed the shorter boy. “I would have an easier time asking an ACTUAL fire breathing dragon.”  
Remus smiled. Lily Evans, though firey and a touch terrifying, was the best in their year at potions. But she was not overly easy to approach and Peter was rather timid.  
The taller boy was on the verge of offering to ask Evans for Peter when the dormitory door flew open. James and Sirius skittered in, causing Peter to knock over his inkwell and Remus to jump up, tossing the Muggle mystery novel he’d been reading in the air and clutching his left side with a yelp. The invisibility cloak, which had been fluttering behind the boys like a pathetic excuse for a battle flag, now hung limply from Sirius Black’s long, pale fingers, and James Potter dropped a bag of snacks from the kitchen at Peter’s feet, apologizing profusely for the spilt ink and cleaning it up with a wave of his wand.  
Sirius scrambled over to Remus, gently asking about the gash on his side. Remus grimaced, but declared that he was just fine. It didn’t feel like it was bleeding.  
Assured that their potions essay and favorite jumper had not been ruined, respectively, Peter and Remus turned trained, raised eyebrows to their black haired companions.  
“It was a near miss, boys.” James spoke in a voice reminiscent of a pompous general directing battle on occasion, and this was one of those occasions. Remus rolled his eyes and accepted the chocolatey cake Sirius held out for him.  
Peter reached out and grabbed his favorite, a cherry-filled pastry, from the bag James had dropped, and remarked, “No offense, mate, but it’s always a near miss with the two of you,” taking a satisfied bite.  
Sirius looked as though he was considering being offended for a moment, but shrugged in acquiescence of the truth and chose instead to lounge gracefully on the ground, with his head propped on Remus’s long, outstretched legs. James slid down the wall, pushing his legs out in front of him and grabbing a large caramel biscuit out of the bag.  
“Toss us a cake, mate,” Sirius held out his hands, into which James just tossed the whole bag of sweets.  
Sirius dug out a raisin filled bun and, before taking a bite, said, “You know, the invisibility cloak doesn’t stop us being solid. And near running straight into two Ravenclaw prefects around one corner and Peeves around the next, and practically tripping over Mrs. Norris on the staircase sort of makes it useless.”  
“Well,” Peter spoke with difficulty, having just swallowed the (rather large) last bite of his pastry, “If you would just learn to do ANYTHING with a little bit of quiet and sneakiness…” Peter had never nearly run into anything or anyone, even without the cloak. He was, really, quite sneaky when he wanted to be.  
“Yes, maybe that’ll happen, Pete.” Remus grinned, eyes glittering. “Maybe our boys will learn to do anything quietly and with subtlety. Maybe when they’re 90. If we’re lucky.”  
Sirius reached up to bat at Remus’s head, halfheartedly. Peter chortled, and James exclaimed, but trailed off before he built up much gusto, realizing again the truth in the statement.  
“What we need,” he said seriously, pushing his round spectacles up on his nose and reaching for a packet of crisps he’d snagged, “is some way to know where everyone is, while we’re walking around.”  
Sirius nodded, and, around a mouthful of cream and puff pastry, mumbled, “Like a map or something.”  
The four boys sat in quiet thought for a moment. Peter and James chewed on the crisps, passing the packet back and forth. Sirius tapped the heel of one of the large black boots he hadn’t removed since Peter gave them to him last Christmas, on the floor. Remus carded his fingers through Sirius’s thick black hair thoughtfully, swallowing the last crumbs of his chocolate cake.  
He suddenly jumped up, sending Sirius toppling to the floor, and started hurriedly rifling through his trunk. Not used to Remus Lupin having such excited outbursts, the other boys just stared, aghast, until James broke the silence with a loud “OI!” at the same time Remus sat back on his heels, having unearthed a large book with a dark brown leather cover.  
He turned to face the boys, and, ignoring their obvious looks of surprise, spoke in a hurry. “I picked this up in Hogsmede last weekend, because it looked so interesting,” Here, Peter rolled his eyes, James grinned and shook his head, and Sirius just stared lovingly at the messy haired werewolf boy with the too-long sweater sleeves and an unhealthy obsession with reading, “See, I was trying to figure out how people make certain places unplottable because of Hogwarts and…Anyway, it’s a bit old” Remus continued “but…” he paused, looking up from the cover, “it’s a book about magical cartography?” When he realized the word cartography was lost on his companions, Remus sighed and rephrased, “Magical map making. For the love of Merlin.”  
After a brief pause, the other boys shouted with excitement and scrambled over each other to Remus. He opened it to the introduction and shoved the text into Sirius’s lap.  
“Here,” he mumbled, “You read it.”  
Remus was not being modest at his bequest to have Sirius read – the book was practically ancient. Reading it to himself had been a challenge enough. But Sirius and James had both grown up reading books with antiquated language like the text in this book.  
So, with James leaning over his shoulder and Peter listening carefully, Sirius began to read, his aristocratic voice being the only thing breaking the unusual silence in their dorm room, and the reason Remus had handed him the book, not James. When Sirius read, it was like the room around him was put under an old and intoxicating spell, and the words just washed over Remus in the most calming way. A few long moments later, Sirius finished.  
James breathed out; exhaling a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Well…” he said slowly, flipping through the book’s thick pages of diagrams and instructions, “it won’t be easy."  
“Easy!?” Sirius exclaimed, staring at his best friend, “James, it’ll be near impossible!”  
Remus’s face fell. Peter, noticing this, spoke up.  
“Nothing’s impossible for us, Sirius. You’re the one who figured out how to do the animagus thing!” As they spoke, in fact, the first part of the potion sat in the 4th year boys’ bathroom in a locked and “out of order” stall. All four boys turned to look towards it.  
“He has a point, mate.” James commented after a moment. Remus’s face picked back up. “Though, I’d say we’re having a bad influence on him…” he added with a grin towards the shorter boy. Peter grinned back.  
“A map would help in our…mischief making…” Sirius said, thoughtfully, pressing himself closer to Remus’s side.  
“Our maradering!” Remus near shouted.  
Peter dug four bottles of pumpkin juice from under his bed and handed them around.  
“To the map.” James said, standing up.  
Sirius, Remus, and Peter followed suit, raising their bottles.  
“The Marauder’s Map!” Sirius added, and their glasses clinked together.  
Remus just beamed.


End file.
